CLEVELAND – Kenyon Martin insists his hit on Karl Malone that resulted in the league imposing a one-game suspension, was nothing more than a hard foul. And the penalties are not going to change the way he plays, which includes giving hard fouls.

“It was a hard foul. I wasn’t trying to hurt nobody. [But] the league didn’t take it that way,” said Martin, who last night here against the Cavs served his ban for his flagrant penalty II foul. “That’s the way I play. That’s me. I’m still not going to stop being aggressive for anything. That’s just the way I play.”

Martin believes the build-up to the game with the Jazz, which included blow-by-blow, word-by-word accounts of the verbal battles Byron Scott and Malone engaged in last month in Utah tainted his case with the league. And he claimed Malone’s comments that Martin and the Nets would get a pass because of team president Rod Thorn’s former association with the league didn’t help.

“There was already a little tension there anyway. It can’t do nothing but add fuel to the fire,” said Martin, who was fined $7,500 by the league – above the $46,365.37 he losses in salary for being suspended without pay.

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Byron Scott was not amused with ex-Net Jayson Williams jokingly claiming on TV, Tuesday, that the coach paid Martin $50 to take out Malone.

“My wife told me about that, too. Somebody called her and asked did she hear Jayson Williams said that I paid Kenyon Martin 50 bucks,” Scott said. “If I’m going to play Kenyon Martin to take out that somebody, it’s going to be a lot more than $50, first of all. And that’s a ridiculous statement. I mean, no way. I wouldn’t pay my guys . . . I’m not that way, first of all. I wouldn’t pay anybody to take somebody out.

“Jayson’s still a good guy. I would like to see him and say, ‘Jayson, what the hell were you thinking about? First of all, don’t insult me by saying 50 bucks. Second of all, where’d you get your information from?’ No, that’s a ridiculous statement,” Scott said.

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Nets were without reserve Brandon Armstrong who strained his lower back at the morning workout . . . Martin’s absence halted the Nets’ streak of using the same starting lineup. They were the last team to have that run alive . . . Cavs were without Lamond Murray [back].